David Levine
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Gophers recruiting: Pitino gets fifth commitment with 6-11 post Bakary Konate
23 April, 2014 // Gophers Now
Gophers coach Richard Pitino now has his center for the future locked up after the commitment Wednesday from 6-foot-11, 220-pound Bakary Konate from Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas.
“It will be great place for me to learn about great coaches, players and people,” he told the Pioneer Press on Wednesday. “And a great opportunity to shine (as a) person and player.”
On Saturday, Konate said he had already made his decision after cancelling an official trip to Tulane. He visited Minnesota in February when the Gophers lost to Illinois at home. He picked them over Tulane, Creighton and Texas A&M.
Konate said he still needs to get a qualifying score on his SAT, which he will take in May. That should be the last obstacle for him to join the team this summer. He spent this past season on Sunrise’s post-graduate team but didn’t participate in any games against primarily junior college competition. That would have resulted in him losing a year of eligibility.
Sunrise Christian’s post-grad team coach Luke Barnwell said Konate wanted to commit to Minnesota right after he visited on February 18.
“He was thinking about doing visits, but he just said he wasn’t going to do it because he was too excited about Minnesota,” Barnwell said Wednesday. “We wanted him to keep his options open and try to see something else. He was getting ready to start doing that, and was like ‘I really don’t want to anymore. That’s where I want to go’.”
Konate started his basketball career playing for Alkaya Touré in Bamako, Mali. At 15, he ended up signing for eight years with Club Baloncesto Gran Canaria in Spain. He excelled right away at the cadet and junior levels to become one of the brightest young stars in Spanish basketball.
As I pointed out previously, the 20-year-old three-star prospect created some buzz at the 2009 Nike International Junior Tournament in Berlin. He was only 16 at the time but performed well in an event that included Jonas Valanciunas, a Lithuanian center who was eventually picked fifth overall in the 2011 NBA Draft. Konate was MVP of the U-16 Spanish Clubs championships, so he got invited to play in the Jordan Brand Classic international game in 2009.
Barnwell said Mississippi freshman center Sebastian Saiz, who is from Spain, helped to persuade Konate to come to the U.S. last September to pursue a college basketball scholarship. Saiz also played at Sunrise Christian in 2013. Problem is Konate couldn’t speak much English when he arrived. konate
“When he first got here, I could barely understand him and he could barely understand me,” Barnwell said. “But in a matter of months, he’s learned quick. That shows you how intelligent he is. He has no problem now.”
Konate’s defensive presence showed in Sunrise practices this year against the school’s elite high school level team that featured Michigan State recruit Tum Tum Nairn, a former Gophers target.
It was during those workouts that both Richard and Rick Pitino saw Konate for the first time. Konate initially visited and wanted to enroll at Louisville this year but “he wasn’t ready,” Barnwell said.
“It just worked out better for him to be at Minnesota,” he said. “What he can do now is defensively he’s ready. He’s long. He can protect the rim and clean up the glass pretty well. He can move his feet. So his immediate impact will be defensively.”
Konate is a better outside shooter than a low-post scorer right now, but that could change with weight lifting, his coach says.
“He’s actually a really good shooter,” Barnwell said. “He can make threes and is a confident shooter. But his lower body has to get stronger for him to be more successful around the rim, offensively.”
The Gophers now could have one of the most athletic young frontcourts in the Big Ten when they sign both 6-9 Senegal native Gaston Diedhiou and Konate, to go along with 6-9 power forward Josh Martin from Seattle.
http://blogs.twincities.com/gophers/2014/04/23/gophers-recruiting-pitino-gets-fifth-commitment-with-6-11-post-bakary-konate/
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